Book update, 2013 season review and travel plans

First an explanation on where I’ve been. Coaching without teaching took more time than I expected. I estimate that between practices, film and other planning I spent about 40 hours a week this season coaching football. I did work on the book some, but the hours I spent working on the current revision dropped during the season, and the blog was obviously forgotten.

The team I coached (North Valleys HS) finished a disappointing 2-7 in a very mediocre football area. Despite the poor record, this season ranked among the most enjoyable of the 23 years I’ve coached. After two years off it was great to coaching again. Also, 40 hour weeks was about the perfect amount of time and seemed like nothing compared to what I did most of my years as both a coach and a teacher. Finally, I appreciated just coaching one position (offensive line) without the headaches of being a head coach or coordinator

Being a position coach is much more fun than having to worry about fundraising, purchasing, grades, discipline, being second-guessed over every decision, dealing with parents and administration, worrying about what the other position coaches are doing or even getting too bent out of shape over the scoreboard. I coached my five guys and was grateful that the other stuff was someone else’s responsibility. Other News:

·The book—I got the manuscript to the point where I’ve begun shopping it around for a publisher… Actually, to be more exact, the process is to find a literary agent to represent the book and open doors with the publishers. A good agent can reach people in the industry that a first time author could never contact. The exciting news is that an established and prominent New York agent has read the manuscript and agreed to take it on. Further revisions and promotion are still needed, but this means the odds of Kiss a Fat Dog being widely published have just become much better.

·I’m heading back to Texas for the first time since my road trip to follow up with some of the teams I followed and see some good high school football. I hope to be there for the semi-final round through the championship weekend in Arlington. Obviously, my exact itinerary will depend somewhat on whether any of my teams are still playing… Got my fingers crossed on that, 8 of 11 of my teams survived through bi-district. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to the trip. I miss Texas and it will be great to get back.

·I’ve really enjoyed following the games in Texas every week this season. With the time difference I would always get the halftime scores on my Friday Night Rivals app before my team kicked off.

Yesterday, I listened to the Cedar Hill-Temple game radio broadcast on the internet. It was a thrilling game with the Longhorns overcoming a 28-7 halftime deficit to win in the final minute. What made it even better was the announcing of Cedar Hill radio voice Bill Howard. If you ever get a chance to hear him call a game, you’ll be glad you did. He does a great job and had me pacing the living room during the game.

I plan to update this blog much more often in the future, hopefully at least once a week. If you’ve were a regular reader, I’m sorry it’s been so long, but there will be more soon.

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2 thoughts on “Book update, 2013 season review and travel plans”

Congratulations on landing an agent. There are many caveats attached. You will still do all of the marketing. That involves ongoing reassessment of the market and goals. The financial return on a hardback sale turns out to net less than a $3.99 Kindle ebook. I wrote and published a textbook, many years ago. It was used in 2 or 3 med schools. The ROI financially came with my ability to sell my services at a higher price and to become a professor. My first novel has been well reviewed by Kirkus and others, but the game of promoting in the digital era becomes another full time job. Enjoy the writing and the fact that you do it well. the rest is a bonus. Good luck, coach. Larry Mulkerin